diff --git a/.github/workflows/maven.yml b/.github/workflows/maven.yml
index 09feae4..e8a6041 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/maven.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/maven.yml
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ jobs:
   build:
     name: Build it
     uses: codehaus-plexus/.github/.github/workflows/maven.yml@master
+    with:
+        # Works with Java 17+
+        matrix-exclude: >
+            [
+              {"jdk": "8"},
+              {"jdk": "11"}
+            ]
 
   deploy:
     name: Deploy
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ce4cf7a..d819ce6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ This library consists of XML classes (`org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml` and `org.co
 
 2. then updated to use Maven 4-specific [`maven-xml-api`](https://github.com/apache/maven/tree/maven-4.0.0-alpha-7/api/maven-api-xml)/[`maven-xml-impl`](https://github.com/apache/maven/tree/maven-4.0.0-alpha-7/maven-xml-impl):\
    this is the `master` branch from which `plexus-xml` 4 is released\
+   Version 4.x requires Java 17 (like Maven 4)
    [![Maven Central](https://img.shields.io/maven-central/v/org.codehaus.plexus/plexus-xml.svg?label=Maven%20Central)](https://search.maven.org/artifact/org.codehaus.plexus/plexus-xml)
 
 For publishing [the site](https://codehaus-plexus.github.io/plexus-xml/) do the following:
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d277bf3..1560031 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ limitations under the License.
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>plexus-xml</artifactId>
-  <version>4.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>4.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 
   <name>Plexus XML Utilities</name>
   <description>A collection of various utility classes to ease working with XML.</description>
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ limitations under the License.
   </distributionManagement>
 
   <properties>
+    <javaVersion>17</javaVersion>
     <project.build.outputTimestamp>2024-05-21T21:02:17Z</project.build.outputTimestamp>
   </properties>
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ limitations under the License.
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-xml-impl</artifactId>
-      <version>4.0.0-alpha-9</version>
+      <version>4.0.0-beta-3</version>
       <exclusions>
         <exclusion>
           <groupId>org.eclipse.sisu</groupId>